


A World Full Of Blinds [ON HOLD]

by WhyAreAllUsernamesTaken



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Background Relationships, Blood, Dark Fantasy, Fairy Tale Retellings, Gen, Heavy Angst, Implied Sexual Content, Lee Felix (Stray Kids)-centric, M/M, Mental Instability, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Alternating, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-01-24 13:14:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21338824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhyAreAllUsernamesTaken/pseuds/WhyAreAllUsernamesTaken
Summary: Once Upon A Time.It's a sentence that implies a happy ending, one full of love and hope and joy.But what Felix doesn't know is that reading that very sentence would only bring him hate, dispair and misery.And when he suddenly finds himelf in a world where all the fairytales are true and false at the same time, he wishes he had never touched that book in the library.But they still lived happily ever after.If seeing your friends on the brink of insanity makes you happy, that is.----------OrFelix learns that everything and everyone is connected to each other in twisted and sick ways they don't tell you about in the books he had read as a child.-----------09/09/2020A certain person is going to be removed from the story. Please give me time to figure out how I'm going to do that.
Relationships: Bang Chan/Lee Felix, Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know
Comments: 17
Kudos: 56





	1. Is Scéal Fada é...

**Author's Note:**

  * For [InoruMarufuji](https://archiveofourown.org/users/InoruMarufuji/gifts).

> Happy Birthday Lina <3  
Thank you very much for handing the basic idea of the story over to me and letting me do with it whatever the hell I want :)
> 
> Now playing:  
Tony Anderson - Immanuel

The boy ran and ran and ran, his feet leaving footprints in the snow and his breath coming out in small puffs visible in the cold winter air. His hood had slipped off and his ears were freezing, the wind hitting his cheeks hard and playing with his dark-brown hair. 

He knew that they were going to keep chasing him if he didn’t get rid of his tracks, but he simply didn’t have _time_. They were too close by. So close that he could hear them ploughing their way through the snow behind him.

There were about eight of them – from what he had seen earlier - and he was vastly outnumbered. And even though they couldn’t actually kill him, they could take him to people who could and he didn’t want to get that close to death.

Not again. 

Not when he had come this far. 

Not when he had managed to survive for this long. 

He rushed down the hill - not caring if his face got scratched up by the dead branches of the trees - and hastily looked around to see if his companion was anywhere to be found.  
He couldn’t see him but he could _feel_ that he was near him. The animal always was. After all, they were bound together for eternity and even though that didn’t sound all that inviting, he wouldn’t have it any other way.

This world – otherwise known as _Scéal_ \- was no place to be on your own. You barely survived on your own. It was possible, but as soon as the humans were onto your ass, you were done for. And those pesky humans were getting better and better in blending in so the people you could trust with your life, _literally_, were getting more and more difficult to find.

And don’t even get him started about the people who strike deals with the humans, selling you out for their own personal gain.

He had seen it happen too many times already.

It had almost happened to him before and he really didn’t want to experience that again. He had already ticked that off his to-do list, involuntarily. If he hadn’t found out about the secret, it would have never happened and he would still have his best friend. _Boyfriend_, maybe?

But that was in the past and there was nothing he could do about it now, except warn his _new_ best friend – friend wasn’t quite the right term. Not when the guy acted like he was just putting up with him - that the rogues were too close to the boundary and that they needed to go into hiding.

The boy got snapped out of his thoughts by a horrible screech, filling the once silent forest. He shot up his head and he saw the eagle circling him.

And that’s when he knew he would never be able to reach _him_ without leading the men behind him to their hidden location.

He reached the bottom of the hill and landed in the shallow creek that lead into a more dense area of the forest. He hissed as the freezing water made contact with his legs and he wished he had worn something other than those skin-tights leather pants, but how could he have known his otherwise normal day would end up like this?

There was more shouting behind him and he didn’t hesitate to wade through the water. If it weren’t for his boots which ended just below his knees, he was sure he wouldn’t have been able to feel his feet anymore.

He didn’t stop, even if he kept slipping on the algae-covered rocks underneath the surface, tearing up his hands whenever he tried to catch himself and soaking his clothes, making his long woollen cape feel like a hundred kilos.

His hard work payed off and at this point he couldn’t see the people behind him anymore. Surely, they weren’t crazy enough to follow him into the deeper parts of the forest, right? Those people didn’t know their way around these parts, unlike him, so he finally allowed himself to stop and take a deep breath. The cold air stung in his lungs but it was better than no air at all.

He carefully heaved himself onto the bank of the creek and groaned when he could feel his knees starting to lock up from the cold. So much for that extra wool he had stuffed into his boots before going hunting that morning.

As soon as he was out, he quickly scanned the area around him and relaxed when he saw himself surrounded by vegetation. There was no way they would be able to spot him now, even when he stood out like a sore thumb in the all-white scenery.

A howl resonated through the forest and the boy perked up, recognizing the sound. He quickly responded by whistling three times and then waited. 

Not even a minute later, the bushes on his left rustled and a majestic black wolf showed itself.

The boy didn’t waste any time and sprinted towards the huge animal, dropping to his knees when he reached the wolf and wrapped his trembling arms around the animal’s neck, hugging it tightly.

‘’Good boy, good boy,’’ He whispered, shivering a bit when he could feel hot puffs of air hitting the skin on his neck.

The wolf snuggled his snout into his neck, letting out a soft whine before licking the boy’s ear, causing a giggle to escape the boy’s lips despite the adrenaline coursing through his veins.

‘’How cute,’’ A voice suddenly sneered behind him.

He turned around as quick as lightning and was met by the one guy he had tried so desperately to avoid for months after managing to escape the guy’s grasp. His hair was still as blonde as ever and his stare just as cold, sending shivers down his spine.

He should have known that the blonde had been part of the group chasing him. After all, he had been the one that had ratted him out in the first place, which had resulted in too much pain and too many sleepless nights after that.

The wolf next to him let out a loud growl and pushed the boy behind him with his snout, snarling at the other male.

‘’You still keep that filthy animal around?,’’ the blonde male said, stepping a bit closer and eyeing the animal, seemingly not intimidated at all, ‘’He’d make a fine carpet,’’

The brown-haired boy felt a mix of rage and fear overwhelming him, rendering him frozen into place. He had managed to avoid the guy for so long that he had almost forgotten about the betrayal and backstabbing, all hidden behind this veil of warmth and _love_.

However, he had never forgotten about those scars on his upper arm and his hip.

The male in front of him pulled his sword out from its hilt and spun it around in his hand, a dark smirk adorning his lips and intimidating the brown-haired boy to no end.

Just as he thought his day couldn’t get any worse, the other men came stalking out of the bushes and stopped behind the blonde.

The guy threw a glance to the men behind him before turning back to the boy behind the wolf, ‘’Well, let’s end our conversation here,’’ He chuckled,’’ There are people waiting for your arrival and we wouldn’t want to keep them waiting, now do we boys?,’’

The men laughed loudly and he knew that it was useless to try to fight them. There were too many and even attempting to take them all down would just result in him and his wolf getting hurt. He could deal with that hurt, but he wouldn’t let anyone harm his other half. 

Technically, his wolf couldn’t get killed by the rogues either, but they could severely harm him and drag him back to those humans. And he was sure the animal would indeed end up becoming a carpet if that were to happen.

So with that, he accepted defeat – for now - and closed his eyes, ordering the animal to stand down in his head before opening his eyes again.

The wolf let out a soft whimper, telling the boy that he wasn’t happy doing so.

The blonde in front of him laughed again, ‘’Wise choice Ji,’’

The boy ignored the awfully familiar nickname, not liking the way it rolled of the blonde’s lips. He used to, but that was months ago.

‘’Go quickly,’’ The boy whispered to the wolf, ‘’Don’t stop until you reached him,’’

The wolf growled and the boy smiled before crouching down in front of the animal, looking straight into its light-blue eyes.

‘’Edon, I’ll be fine,’’ he said as he treaded his fingers through the soft black fur on the side of the wolf’s head, ‘’We have to warn him. You know what to do,’’

He suddenly got pulled up by his upper-arm, hands forcefully turning him around like he was some sort of ragdoll. To be fair, to the blonde he probably was.

‘’Time's up sweetheart,’’ The blonde boy hissed in his face, ‘’They gave me till midnight to get back so let’s go,’’

He got pushed back and he tripped over his own feet and the air got knocked out of his lungs as he landed on his back. 

The position was all too familiar and with the blonde male hoovering over him, he could feel his throat contract. It became a bit difficult to breath and for a second he was reliving the events of _that_ night.

Two other males stepped from behind the blonde and roughly pulled the boy back to his feet, replacing their grip by a rope, digging into the skin on his wrists. He got pushed again and it sent him crashing into the blonde male’s chest. 

His head then got forced back by a painful pull on his hair, his eyes welling up ever so slightly and his breathing turning a bit more shallow.

‘’Finally got you back,’’ The blonde man whispered, lingering next to the brown-haired boy’s ear too long for comfort, ‘’My Little Red Riding Hood,’’


	2. Is fearr a bheith beagán sprionlaithe ná mórán caillte

[**Seoul**, _December eleventh_]

Felix’s life had always been normal – boring, even.

He went to university, got decent grades, he got along with basically everyone including the professors, his parents were still happily married and madly in love, his friends were great and he never had to worry about food or anything else. His hobbies were just as ordinary as his life. Mundane, he would call it. Felix mostly just spent his free time on watching Netflix, hanging out with friends, a bit of dancing whenever he felt like it…

Nothing too special or nothing he was _that_ passionate about.

However, there was one thing he could do without losing interest, making him forget the time or to eat or to actually respond to his friend’s texts.

And that was reading. He just loved getting lost in the world that the author had created and he could spend hours and hours tucked away in a corner of the library on campus. He was aware that some people thought it was weird that a nineteen-year-old was so obsessed with everything that fell into the ‘fantasy’ category, but he didn’t care. Not when he could forget about his painfully normal life for a bit.

So that’s why was here, tucked away in his usual corner of the library, book in his hands and his neck aching from the way it was bent.

He couldn’t help it. The book was just too exiting to put down so he told himself that one more hour wouldn’t hurt a fly, even if it was already way past eleven in the evening. That wouldn’t be such a problem if only tomorrow wasn’t the first day of the second semester, almost marking the halfway-point of his second year.

Not that they’d actually do anything that required his brain to be well-rested and functioning, but he liked to be somewhat present and make a decent first impression on his professors for the next three months.

One more chapter. That’s what he told himself.

In the end, he got chased out by the librarian because she was going to close up, meaning that it had already reached one in the morning and that left Felix with seven hours to get himself to bed and back into the lecture hall.

So with mixed feelings, Felix dragged himself outside and slowly made his way back to his dorm. It was a short distance, but the cold managed to make Felix clatter his teeth. Winter break was around the corner and with that came heaps and heaps of snow and ice and runny noses and hot chocolate.

Even though it was his fourth year living in South-Korea, he still couldn’t really get used to those harsh winters. Back in Australia, people celebrated Christmas on the beach, getting sunburned instead of frostbite.

Sometimes he missed that but there was no point in dwelling over it. He had convinced his parents that was okay with moving back to South-Korea in the middle of his fifth year of high school – third year for Korean students – because he didn’t want to stand in the way of his mother and her promotion. He knew his parents and that his mother would only accept the promotion if Felix was fine with dropping everything he had built up and start off in a new country. He hadn’t been fine, but his parents didn’t need to know.

By now, it had started to snow again and Felix pulled his beanie further down to cover his ears in an attempt to cover as much of his skin as possible, hoping it would prevent him from getting frozen.

He hastened his pace – waddle was more like it – and let out a sigh of relieve when he finally stepped inside the dorm building. 

The place was insanely hot compared to outside but Felix was happy that he could feel his muscles relax as the heath seeped into his body. Even though he knew that he was going to be sweating like crazy later if he didn’t start removing his scarfs – yes, _scarfs_ \- and beanie, he remained wrapped up as he made his way down the hall and to his room.  
And indeed. As soon as he stepped inside, he could feel the first drop forming on the base of his neck, the heath finally caught up with him. But he decided it wasn’t important when he turned on the lights and saw the other bed in his dorm occupied.

He stood there in the doorway, frozen and not knowing what to do. The guy was clearly asleep – only a tuff of chestnut-brown hair sticking out from the blanket.

That’s when Felix remembered that his RA had informed him that a new guy was going to move into the dorms. Felix was one of the very few people that didn’t have a roommate already and that had meant that the guy would move in with him.

Said guy let out a heavy sigh and Felix quickly flicked off the lights again. He decided that it was best to make sure the guy wouldn’t wake up because it wouldn’t create the best situation to introduce themselves to each other. Not when it was half past one in the morning and the guy clearly asleep.

Introductions could wait until tomorrow – or today? – and so, Felix turned on the flashlight of his phone instead and threw it on his bed before stripping out of his clothes, replacing the two hoodies and sweatpants with a t-shirt and sports-shorts instead. He set his alarm before slipping underneath the blankets, letting out a sigh as his head landed on his soft pillow.

It was only then that he noticed how tired he was, even though his mind was still somewhere in between the pages of the book he had been reading. He knew that he shouldn’t read action-packed stories right before going to bed – everyone and their mom had warned him about that – but he just couldn’t help it.

So it didn’t really come as a surprise when he witnessed the time going from one-forty, to two-twenty, to three-fifty and all the way to five.

The next time he opened his eyes, it was to the sound of his alarm blasting some kind of cringy techno-beat and morning light crashing through the windows, rendering him blind for a couple of seconds. His head hurt due to the obvious lack of sleep and he really wished he had gotten to bed earlier but alas, here he was, probably repeating it all over again today.

The alarm was still blaring and he figured he needed to turn it off. So he rolled to his side and smacked the top of the alarm – an oldschool radio thing that he had gotten for his seventh birthday. 

His eyes landed on the bed opposite of him and it was empty. 

For a second, Felix wondered if he had imagined finding a boy asleep in it last night, but the way the corners of the blanket were slightly off gave away that it had indeed been occupied before. 

Felix shot up to look around the room but there was no sign of life – himself not included – and that was lowkey freaking him out. He looked at his phone and the bright numbers displayed that it was a little past seven now and way too early to already be out and about. 

But he ignored the fact that his new roommate had run off to wherever and heaved himself out of bed, which was really freaking difficult because the pounding in his head only worsened and he really needed to go to sleep early tonight.

How he got ready for school, Felix didn’t really remember but suddenly he was outside of his dorm, all dressed and with his backpack slung around his shoulder. Newsflash, he wasn’t a morning person and found himself wondering how he had gotten to class more often than not.

It was busy on campus – most students smart enough to show up at their first lecture of the semester to get on the professors’ good side – and he only noticed _how_ busy when he was standing in line at the little café next to the main building.

There were _at least_ twenty-three people in front of him, all trying to get their fix of caffeine before they had to plough away for hours. 

Felix didn’t really go to the café that often, but he somehow really craved a plain black coffee right now. It wasn’t really a smart move with his headache and all, but the painkillers had dulled the pain down and made him forget he even _had_ a headache. 

The line seemed to get shorter quite rapidly and that was good because he only had about fifteen minutes left to get his coffee and actually _be_ in his classroom. That was plenty of time, but the idea that he may just make it at the last minute or so was enough to get him to stress about it and slightly regret coming here.

But it was cold outside and snow had piled up during the night and he needed something to make sure he wouldn’t freeze.

Like he had worried about, he found himself sprinting to class ten minutes later, hot coffee in his hand. The cheap cup it was in did nothing to stop his fingers from almost getting burned but there was no time to dwell on that. He could do that later when he was seated and on time.

Somehow he managed to get into the building without slipping on the plaques of ice hidden underneath the snow or without bumping into someone – which he was kinda proud of – and relaxed when he reached the room and the professor wasn’t even there yet. It was busy and he inwardly groaned when he saw that his usual seat had already been taken. Probably someone that had switched majors or something, otherwise he wouldn’t be sitting in _his_ seat.

Technically, it wasn’t his seat _per se_, but there was this unwritten rule that everyone picked a spot at the beginning of the year and sat there every time. Even the people who got in late and ended up on the dreaded front-row cohered to this. However, the spot next to the guy was still available so Felix decided it would be fine to sit there. Now, he wasn’t some kind of weirdo that would sit next to strangers when there were a ton of other seats unoccupied, there simply weren’t that many seats left.

And no way in hell that Felix was going to sit next to the older students who still had to pass this class. That would be awkward and weird. 

So Mr. stealing-other-people’s-seat it was.

The guy looked nice enough - hair styled down and plain black, comfortable jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt – and even though he shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover, the stranger seemed okay.

However, when he shimmied down the row and thereby closer to the guy, he was hit by a weird sense of familiarity, like he somehow knew the guy. He halted for a split second, trying to figure out if he had seen the guy before, but coming up blank and shaking his head to pull himself out of whatever he had been stuck in.

He passed the last few students and came to a stop next to the guy. Felix sat down and put his cup down in the little tray table in front of him before slipping out of his heavy coat, letting it drop behind his back. 

Just as he was about to say hello to the guy next to him – he was obviously new from what Felix had observed – because Felix was _that_ guy, the professor walked in and demanded them to shut up.

Some people around him groaned and Felix followed. The man in front of the room just screamed ‘grumpy asshole’ and Felix just knew it was going to be a pain in the ass to keep the man happy.

Fortunately he had his coffee and decided to just zone out for the next one and a half hour, because he was really sure he knew the guy sitting next to him.

[**Scéal**, _Around midnight_]

‘’Stop stalling!,’’ One of the man to his right hissed.

Woojin turned his head and he saw the boy getting pushed in the back by one of the men, making the poor boy trip over his feet for the umpteenth time and land on his knees harshly. The older winched but did his best to hide it, knowing that he had to pretend to be okay with all of this. He wasn’t, but he didn’t have a choice. Not when they had Jeongin back at base and could do anything to him.

The boy got pulled to his feet again and the whole cycle repeated over and over again until the boy got smacked in the face by Chan. 

A high-pitched gasp left the boy’s lips and Woojin could see him shrinking in on himself. The sickening grin on Chan’s face would surely haunt everyone present in their dreams. Nightmares, more likely.

Red Riding Hood.

That’s who the boy was.

Everyone seemed to know the boy, for reasons Woojin didn’t get. However, he had managed to catch people talking about the boy’s grandmother and one of the guys had once said something along the lines of _‘’the boy gets around’’_ – whatever that was supposed to mean.

They had been trying to find him for months and they finally got him. However, Woojin never really got why Chan had been so adamant about going for the boy specifically. He had even gone to the higher-ups to convince them to change their target and go for the red-caped boy. Woojin was sure it was because of reasons no one really knew and over the last couple of weeks, he had learned to just accept it. But seeing the boy getting dragged around like he was nothing - the rope digging into his skin and one of the guys’ fingers trailing along his waist - made him feel horrible. 

He knew it was part of the job, one he hadn’t volunteered for, but it was _so_ wrong. This whole group was wrong. Their motives were wrong and so where the humans they were in kahoots with.

_The Rogues_, was what they were called. The Grimms that wouldn’t accept the way things had been decided had teamed up with a group of hidden humans about a decade ago and set fear into every being around by selling out other Grimms. He couldn’t understand how people could be so selfish, teaming up with the enemy just so they could climb the ranks.

Their whole world and the rules that came with it were so messed up. Who had decided that humans were the only people who could kill the Grimms – or known in the human world as fairy-tale characters, who had decided that Grimms could go to the human world when they managed to carve a human’s heart out of their chest and consume it? That was gross and cruel, but there were enough people who were willing to do that.

Most of all, who had though it was a good idea to enable humans to get into this world? They didn’t belong here. Things had been fine before they came here, that's what the books told them.

He got back to reality when there was another pained shriek and he snapped his head up, only to see the boy get pushed by Chan yet again and he disappeared down the snowy hill. 

At this point, Woojin was convinced Chan was the closest someone would get to a sociopath. He didn’t care about others or what others thought of him and that made him so terrifying. 

They hiked down the hill and found the boy unconscious, blood covering his left-temple. Chan was laughing like a madman before motioning to one of the rogues to pick the boy up and keep walking. 

They ended up spending more time than they should’ve and barely made it back before twelve, Chan speeding off to the meeting-room as soon as they had set foot into camp. One of the man disappeared with the still unconscious boy and that left Woojin on his own, standing in the middle of their camp.

‘’Hyung!,’’

Woojin turned around and was met by Jeongin, standing there in his nightwear with a beaming smile. The older could feel the tension seep out of his body and disappear into the frozen ground at the sight on his little brother jogging towards him.

‘’Jeongin! Why aren’t you in bed? Do you have any idea what time it is!,’’ Woojin rushed out, concerned to see his little brother awake at this hour.

The younger just shrugged, ‘’I was waiting for you to come back,’’

Woojin let out a sigh and stepped closer to the boy, taking a hold of his hand and dragging them to their tent. It was way too cold to be living in a make-shift home like that in the middle of the winter, but it wasn’t like they could do anything about it. They were just upgraded hostages and it would be unwise to complain about it.

Getting Jeongin back to bed went smoothly – not without the older singing for him first – and Woojin took the time to wind down and write about his day. It was kinda lame but it helped him calm down. There was something therapeutic about writing away your inner turmoil.

He had been doing so for the last forty-three days.

That’s how long he and Jeongin had been here.

It had been really stupid to just dash off one night, leaving their safe home and putting themselves in a vulnerable position. But to be fair, it was getting unbearable at home so when Jeongin had finally convinced him that it would be best to get away from their parents, they had run off.

The night had been too dark to navigate and they had gotten lost, even when they had tried to prevent that by ripping apart Jeongin’s necklaces and Woojin’s blouse, tying their make-shift… whatevers, to trees and bushes.

They had run into _them_ right before dawn and that’s when Woojin realised that they had made a huge mistake by leaving the safety of their home.

Jeongin let out a long sigh and Woojin figured he had to get to sleep too. Tomorrow was probably going to be a long day as well.

However, as he wormed himself into bed next to Jeongin, his mind wandered off to the young boy they had caught a few hours prior.

It stung and Woojin could feel his eyes well up as his heart clenched uncomfortably in his chest. 

But that happened every night after he had settled in his bed so he did what he always did and ignored it as he turned on his side, feeling the emotional and physical exhaustion tear away at his every fibre and he could only hope that things would get better soon.

Because they could only go up from here, right?


	3. Innsidh na geòidh as t-fhoghar e

[**Seoul**, _December twelfth_]

One cup of coffee and two hours later, Felix was out of the room and on his way to the library. 

Class had been incredibly boring – he had even spotted a few students asleep in their chairs – and even though he had tried to strike up a conversation with the guy next to him, he hadn’t really found out all that much. He had learned that said guy’s name was Hyunjin and that he had switched majors after the first semester.

Felix never got to know what major Hyunjin had been in or why he switched to cultural history but he figured he could ask another time. Hyunjin seemed okay enough – even with the whole ‘’fuck-off’ vibe he had going – and Felix was sure that the guy didn’t really know anyone in their major. That’s one of the few things Hyunjin had told him. Not directly, but Felix was pretty good at reading between the lines.

The walk to the library was as usual, only this time it was way busier on campus than the day before. Which wasn’t all that weird and to be honest, Felix liked the buzzling going around. It made him feel less alone.

To make things even better, the sun had decided to come out of hiding and was beaming down on him, it’s reflection in the snow serving as a good wake-up call even though it hurt his eyes a bit. 

It was an hour later when Felix found himself in the library. Not to read books but to work on the report they’d had to hand in at the end of the semester. Felix wasn’t much of a procrastinator and liked to get things done on time. Sure, he did leave some things for the last minute like everyone else, but it eased his mind to at least brainstorm a little bit.  
The assignment was simple.

They had two months to research anything related to culture and write a twenty-paged report about it. Felix already had an idea – of course he was going to research the origins of fairy-tales and popular folklore - but he needed to think of more possible subjects in case his professor would shoot his initial idea down.

However, he was so stuck that he called it quits after half an hour. To be honest, he had already made up his mind and he was sure he was going to end up begging the professor to let him do the subject he wanted.

He packed his stuff back in his backpack and turned around to look at the clock on the wall behind him. It was not even lunchtime yet and his next lecture was at three so he had a lot of time on his hands. The temptation to stroll over to the fiction-section was big, but he also needed to get lunch soon. Those things could easily be done in three hours, but it wouldn’t be the first time he would forget about eating – or time – while reading.

For a few minutes, he contemplated on what to do and he decided to get back to his dorm for a bit. He could actually prepare a somewhat healthy lunch there and skip out of the insanely expensive stuff they served in the cafeteria. The food was okay, just the quality wasn’t worth the money. So he got out of his chair and checked to see if he had everything before making his way out of the library. 

The snow that had been floating down from the sky earlier that morning had been replaced by hail, something that Felix had only seen once in his life before. It was fascinating and so he stopped walking for a bit to take in the sight. 

The little spheres of ice were bouncing of everything that wasn’t covered by snow. It was almost hypnotizing and Felix could not tear his eyes away. It was weird, being enamoured by something so stupid but there was no helping it. There was just something soothing about the sound of hail hitting the snow that piqued his interest.

It was only after the hail stopped that Felix snapped back to reality and he continued his way to his dorm. The snow made a crunching sound under his converse and leaving a trail behind him. An idea came to him - It was kinda childish but he didn’t care – and he looked around to see how many students were around. Satisfied with the low number, he decided to stand on one foot, hopping the rest of the way to create a trail of the same footprint. 

By the time he stepped into the dorm building, his converse were soaked and he was out of breath from the physical exertion. However, he felt better than he had this morning and even though the painkiller he had taken a few hours ago should have stopped working by now, the headache stayed away. 

Back in his room, he stepped out of his shoes and waddled over to the radiator next to his bed and placed his shoes under it to let them dry. Then he shrugged of the long winter coat, throwing it on his bed before walking over to the kitchen.

He turned the corner – softly humming – and was met by a guy standing next to the furnace with his back turned towards Felix.

The sight of an unexpected guest startled Felix and he let out a very unmanly shriek, ‘’What the hell!,’’ Felix squeaked before looking at the guy.

The guy dropped the chopsticks he was holding in his hands before spinning around, his eyes growing wide as they landed on Felix.

‘’Felix?,’’

It was only then that Felix snapped back out of his shocked state and he looked at the guy, recognizing him immediately.

‘’Hyunjin?,’’ Felix gasped, ‘’What are you doing in my dorm?,’’

Hyunjin’s eyes widened and he looked confused for a second before he suddenly burst out laughing, clutching onto his stomach as he doubled over.

Felix chuckled along, confused about Hyunjin’s reaction.

‘’Nice to meet you,’’ Hyunjin suddenly grinned, uncurling from himself and stretching out his hand, ‘’I’m Hwang Hyunjin, your new roommate,’’

Felix chocked on his own saliva as soon as the words had left Hyunjin’s lips, throwing him in a coughing-fit as he shook the other’s hand. Hyunjin laughed again and Felix managed to throw him a glare as he tried to regain his breathing.

Hyunjin just patted his shoulder and moved to the cupboard, taking out a glass and filling it with water before handing it over to Felix.

‘’Thanks,’’ He wheezed out, taking little sips of water.

He almost drowned again a couple of times but he managed to finish it all without any major problems and he soon felt like he could actually breathe again. 

‘’Any time bro,’’ Hyunjin responded, taking the empty glass out of Felix’s hand and placing it in the sink before leaning against the counter.

Felix felt awkward but tried to hide it by mimicking Hyunjin’s position and proceeded to embarrass himself more by losing balance and almost toppling over.

‘’Smooth,’’ Hyunjin commented as Felix steadied himself by gripping the counter.

Felix let out a groan and ran a hand through his hair, shooting the other a crooked smile, ‘’Yeah, well… hi,’’

Hyunjin snorted and shook his head before turning back to the stove, ‘’You want some scrambled eggs?,’’

Felix looked over to the stove and he saw that Hyunjin was actually making said scrambled eggs.

‘’Who makes that for lunch? That’s a breakfast thing,’’ He replied, tilting his head in confusion.

Hyunjin just hummed, followed by a light chuckle as he resumed to stir the eggs sizzling in the frying pan, ‘’I can eat whatever I want, whenever I want. There’s no rule saying that you can only have scrambled eggs in the morning,’’

Felix had to admit that the guy had a valid point even if he still thought it was weird. 

‘’So you want some or not?,’’ 

Felix replied with a yes and Hyunjin laughed again. Felix had to admit that the guy had a nice laugh – very contagious – and he joined in. The awkwardness in the air vanished and before they knew it, they were seated at the little table in the kitchen, chatting away like they had known each other for years.

To be honest, Felix had been quite nervous about having to room with someone. He was a social butterfly but actually getting along with someone involved the other person being somewhat social as well. Hyunjin seemed to be just that – even with his reluctance to engage in a conversation earlier.

It was only after Hyunjin mentioned that he liked reading in his spare time – folklore specifically – that Felix just knew that they were going to be great friends.

[**Scéal,** _Morning_]

It was dark.

It was always dark.

But over the years, he liked to think that he had gotten used to it. That couldn’t be further from the truth but day after day he tried to convince himself that it wasn’t all that bad. He needed to in order to keep himself somewhat sane.

Then again, he didn’t know anything else but this dark room and it’s dingy walls, the smell of mould all around him and the occasional rat making its way up his leg before he could swat it away. That wasn’t all true when he had a couple of books that spoke of things he had never seen before, but what did it matter if he couldn’t see them for himself?

He let out a sigh and twisted his hair in between his fingers, wondering when he would be allowed to cut it shorter again.

That’s one of the things he hated the most.

His father only cut his hair whenever it became unbearably long and a hassle to deal with. Not that his father cared but Seungmin did. It had reached his shoulders again after months and months of it growing out and it was getting really annoying. It would hang in front of his face whenever he tried to eat, it would get stuck to the sharp corners of the stones on the wall whenever he leaned against them, it would get tangled like crazy and it frustrated him when he couldn’t get the knots out with his fingers…

The list went on and on.

He wished he could see whatever was outside. Not just the bathroom but the actual outside where there were trees and other people and colours other than greys and dark browns but he knew that would never happen. Not as long his father was alive.

There were a lot of things Seungmin didn’t understand but no matter how hard he tried, he never got the answers he needed or wanted.

For example, he didn’t understand why he had to stay in this basement all the time. It was probably normal, but what confused him was the fact that his father was allowed to go everywhere he wanted. He had asked the man why he wasn’t allowed to go outside and his father had told him that children were supposed to stay hidden from the world while adults were free to roam around.

At first the answer had sufficed and Seungmin took it that that was just how things were supposed to be, but the older he got, the weirder the logic got. Especially after he had managed to find a stack of old drawings in a chest in a corner of the basement.

The drawings were filled with people in a market, kids and adults alike. That had been the thing to get the gears in Seungmin’s head going.

He had asked his father about the people in the drawing on one of the rare occasions he was allowed out of the room. That hadn’t ended up well and he had learned the hard way never to ask about anything again. 

He winced as he thought about the long and ragged lines on his back that served as a reminder to never question his father and he balled his fists.

Then he could hear the lock on the door getting fumbled with and he snapped his head up and towards the sound. A few seconds later, the door opened and the room got flooded by daylight, blinding Seungmin in the process.

‘’Good morning kiddo,’’ His father said before stepping into the room, a bowl in his hand.

‘’Good morning dad,’’ Seungmin replied before standing up.

The man smiled and reached out the bowl for Seungmin to take, which the latter did before sitting back down.

‘’I’m sorry to say it’s just rice but we are running out of supplies,’’ The man told him, a grimace on his face as he sat down in front of the boy.

Seungmin hummed to let him know he had heard him before scooping the rice onto the spoon and plopping the sticky white goo into his mouth. It wasn’t good, but not horrible either. He was used to meals like this anyways.

His father shuffled a bit closer and Seungmin appreciated the warmth radiating of the man.The nights were getting colder and he knew that it meant that winter was coming – or here already. There was nothing like a fireplace down here so Seungmin had to deal with the cold by wearing layers and layers of clothing. Even though it did keep him somewhat warm, he already dreaded the nights. 

‘’I think it’s time we cut your hair again,’’ His father muttered under his breath, eyes focussed on the long locks, ‘’which couldn’t come at a better timing to be honest,’’

Seungmin stopped his chewing and looked up at the man, seeing his brows furrowed before he got up and stalked out of the room and returning only five seconds later.

Yes, Seungmin counted.

One day when he was ten years old, he had hyped himself up and made up his mind to get out of this place. Now, he wasn’t dumb so he had tried to look for a pattern or something like that. He had found out that his father would never lock the door when he went to retrieve something, giving Seungmin an opportunity. However, that had quickly been shot down when his father would always return within eight seconds.

There had never been room for him to get out.

‘’Turn around,’’ his father ordered as he sat in front of the boy, waving a pair of sciccors around.

Seungmin hastily set down the half-empty bowl and spoon before doing as he was told. He was excited about the fact that he was finally going to feel the cool air on the back of his neck again. Which was a weird thing to be excited about but there was something about his long hair that suffocated him.

As his father carefully snipped away – keeping the long locks completely intact – Seungmin wondered how much money his father got for selling off his hair.

It was when Seungmin was eight when his father had told him that his hair colour was very rare and therefor very valuable. At that age he hadn’t understood why people would pay good money for his red-ish locks. To this day he still didn’t understand but he didn’t question it as they fell into this pattern of him growing out his hair, his father snipping it off and returning the next day with meat and eggs.

It was after quite a long time that his father finally dropped the pair of scissors and stuffed the hair away into a little satin bag.

‘’This should be enough to last us the whole winter,’’ his father remarked before turning back to Seungmin, ‘’I’ll see if I can find you some pastels if we have money to spare,’’

Seungmin was quite sceptical about that. His father had promised to do so many times before and always returned empty-handed, the promised pastels nowhere in sight.

‘’Really?,’’ he asked, still a bit hopeful.

The man smiled and nodded, but it did nothing to solidify the promise.

‘’Well, I’ll leave you to finish your meal in peace,’’ 

And just like that, his father was gone and the door was locked again, leaving Seungmin on his own.

But that was normal.


	4. Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine.

[**Scéal**, _Past midnight_]

Minho was annoyed. Furious, almost.

It was already dark outside and Red hadn’t returned home yet, even though he had promised to get back early and clean up the cabin. Technically, he could do it himself but then again, he couldn’t. He wasn’t meant to do things that commoners were supposed to do.

He wasn’t going to get his hands dirty doing things Red should be doing for him.

He bounced his knee, turning fidgety in his chair, twirling his ebony-black hair between his fingers as he kept his eyes trained on the old wooden door. It was in the same rundown-state as the rest of the cabin, but it had been the best thing they had found after wandering around for days.

Minho had been reluctant to stay here at first. It was too small – smaller than the servant’s dining room back home – and it looked like it could collapse from its own weight any time now, therefor no place for nobility like him to stay.

Red had gotten really angry when Minho had told him as much and had pointed to the door, screaming he was welcome to try and survive on his own out there.

Even though Minho’s pride had almost made him slap the boy for speaking to him that way and walk out, he had to admit that the boy had had a valid point. 

Minho wasn’t going to even last one week out there on his own.

He had somehow managed to do that before he had ran into the boy. Well, not really that. It hadn’t been all that nice – with Red actually trying to rob him – but it turned out that the boy was too sympathetic for his own good, dragging Minho along with him as soon as he had found out that Minho had gotten separated from his guards and didn’t know his way home. 

Red hadn’t told him what he had been up to, why he was wandering around the forest looking for a place to stay. Minho hadn’t been told _anything_, actually. All he had found out that night was that Red used to live with his grandma and that multiple things had happened which had forced him to flee.

That had been three months ago and Minho still wasn’t any wiser.

Something slid along his leg and up his body, pulling Minho out of his frustration for a minute. He looked down and smiled – something that was solely reserved for the creature - when he saw his only friend.

‘’Nathair, where have you been all day?,’’

Of course, the bright-red leaf viper didn’t respond but Minho liked to pretend it did. The viper hissed and Minho laughed as if he understood before uncurling the animal from his leg and bringing it up to his face to kiss its head.

Call him crazy, but the snake was cute and Minho had had him ever since he was a small kid and so he took it everywhere with him, not caring if it scared people off. It was actually nice that the animal prevented others from approaching him because that way, he wouldn’t have to deal with said people – which were filthy beggars most of the time anyways.

Red was one of the very few people – the only one, actually - more fascinated by the snake than scared when the animal had come out of hiding from underneath Minho’s shirt and the older had been surprised. That was until they had been wading through the dimly-lit forest for about two hours. 

There had been a sudden howl piercing the silent night and Red had stilled before whistling three times. Minho had been scared and confused, even more so when suddenly a huge wolf had shown up and had acted like some kind of meek bunny around Red.

He pulled himself out of his thoughts to let the snake curl around his arm as he stared at one of the candles on the table. The thing was almost at its end, meaning that Red had been gone for too long.

And even though Minho shouldn’t care about the boy’s safety, he did.

After all, he needed him to survive and it would be too much of a hassle to find him another person to keep him safe. That was it. Nothing more. He was not going to admit to himself that he, maybe, thought that Red was okay to spend time with.

Time went by and there was still no sign of the boy. Minho was growing tired and he could feel his eyes starting to droop. Even Nathair had stopped moving a while ago and was now set on his lap, serving as little distraction for Minho.

Minho had reached the point where he could feel his jaw locking up. Sure, Red often came back a little – or a lot – later than he had promised, but he had assured Minho he would just be out hunting for a couple of hours.

So he stayed there, sitting on that very uncomfortable chair and playing with the little apple-pendant hanging off the black choker around his neck, until he said to hell with it. He was going to bed and Red could just fuck off. 

He let out a dissatisfied grumble and carefully lifted the sleeping snake off his lap before moving to the bed.

That god damn bed the cabin only had one of. It was ridiculous really. Especially because that red-caped squirrel could just never seem to stay on his side of the bed. The times Minho had woken up with the boy curled up against him was too many to count on one hand.

Suddenly feeling a bit lonely, Minho put the snake on top on his stomach after he had settled into the bed. 

He tried to sleep, he really did, but there was something gnawing at his brains and the only thing he could think of was Red. No matter what he tried to focus on, the boy weaselled his way back into the front of his brain.

It wasn’t all that unfamiliar. It had started happening more and more and he didn’t know what to make of it.

And then, when he finally felt his body getting heavier and heavier, he got alarmed by a sudden loud scratching on the other side of the front door. His eyes shot open and he sucked in a sharp breath, listening but the scratching had already stopped.

Just when he thought he had imagined it, the scratching returned, combined with low growling and Minho could feel his heart speeding up. He liked animals, he really did, but Red wasn’t here and he didn’t really know how to defend himself.

He really had to ask Red to teach him stuff later. But he shot that idea down as quickly as it had come because he didn’t _ask_ for help. People should help him without him having to ask. 

But at least he had Nathair. Not that the snake would be very useful in actually fighting off god knows what, but at least the animal was fine in the poison-department. So with that, Minho lifted his beloved companion off his stomach and thereby successfully woke the animal up.

He threw the blanket off his body and had to suppress a shiver. It was already well into winter and that meant that it was cold. The cabin did have a little fire place and Minho had gathered some wood while Red was gone – something he would demand a thanks for from Red from later – but he didn’t know how to properly start a fire. Red had taught him right before winter had set in, but Minho hadn’t really listened. It wasn’t as if he needed to know how to do that if he had Red.

By now, the scratching had turned into full on thumping and Minho was ready to die on the spot. However, a sudden whine came from the other side of the door.

It kept going and going, getting louder as Minho tip-toed to the door.

It when he was standing in front of the door that he recognized the sound.

He let out a sigh of relief and threw the door open, coming face to face with Edon. Minho stepped aside to let the wolf in and the animal immediately started pacing in circles around the table, ears folded and a distressed sound coming from him.

Minho was confused. He had never seen the animal act like this. Moreover, Red wasn’t with him.

He stalked towards the animal and crouched down next to it. As soon as he did, the wolf pushed his snout in his neck, almost butting Minho in the head.

‘’Woah woah!,’’ Minho huffed, scratching behind the animal’s ear, ‘’What’s going on boy?,’’

When he had first met Red and by default Edon, Minho had been scared of the animal. It was big and scary-looking and difficult to read. Red had told him that the animal was very weary of strangers but that he was a sweetheart once he opened up to you.

Even though Minho had been terrified, he had listened to Red’s tips and tricks and had managed to get the animal to slowly open up to him. By now he knew the wolf like the back of his hand. Maybe not really, but he was getting closer and closer by the day.

‘’Where is Red?,’’ Minho tried, but only got more whines in return.

Minho was so confused. He didn’t understand where the boy was and why the wolf was here without him. Over the last months, Minho had had enough time to observe the dynamics between the wolf and Red and he had come to the conclusion that Edon followed Red everywhere.

And with everywhere, Minho meant _everywhere_. Whenever Red set even one foot outside the door, the animal was stuck to his side and only left that side on Red’s command.

So he was sure that something had happened for the two to get separated – that Red had most likely sent the animal back home.

Once again, Minho found himself powerless and uncapable of doing anything. He didn’t know where to start. Going out right now wasn’t an option, not while it was the middle of the night and with these temperatures. He was a shit navigator anyways – there was a reason he had gotten lost that night Red had found him.

His mind was going into overdrive, thinking about how he was going to find the younger and he panicked at the thought of Red being in serious danger.

But then he suddenly remembered.

It wasn’t his job to find the boy. It wasn’t something he should lose sleep over because Red would be able to find his way back on his own. There was probably nothing wrong in the first place, accept for the fact that Edon had lost track of Red.

Yeah.

That was it.

There was no reason for him to acknowledge the way his chest seemed to contract and the way nausea was creeping all the way up to his throat. 

To be honest, if something had happened it was the boy’s own fault. He should’ve payed more attention to the animal and they wouldn’t have gotten separated.

So Minho just patted the wolf and tried to comfort the animal by running his fingers through his soft fur. It seemed to work as the animal lay down on the floor and was soon asleep, probably exhausted from being out all day.

At this point, Minho was almost freezing and hurried his ass back into bed. Nathair was gone and he had to accept that he was back to being lonely.

He forced himself to see it as a positive thing; he finally had the bed to himself and didn’t have to deal with a sleepy and clingy Red demanding attention. 

However, the thought of it made him feel a little sad and he hated it. He hated feeling anything, basically. Feelings were stupid anyways.

He kept yelling at his brain to shut up and go to sleep as he tossed and turned in the bed, not finding a comfortable position at all. Laying there on his own felt weirdly off and he decided he didn’t like that feeling.

‘’Stupid Red…,’’ He muttered under his breath, turning around for the umpteenth time.

It wasn’t as if he cared or anything. He was just angry that the boy hadn’t kept his promise to get back early. That was all.

Minho didn’t sleep that night.

[**Seoul**, _December twelfth_]

It was already evening when Felix came stumbling back into his dorm, ready to just shove his face with food and maybe watch something on Netflix before succumbing to his exhaustion. He had been tempted to veer into the library when he passed it just a few minutes ago, but for once he decided to listen to his brain and kept walking. He wasn’t sure if he would survive another late night.

Felix hadn’t even shrugged off his coat or Hyunjin appeared in front of him, ladle in hand and a big grin on his face. Felix slowed down his movements and shot the older a confused look, slightly concerned.

‘’You’re just in time!,’’ the guy screeched before disappearing again.

Felix snorted at the guy’s strange antics, hanging up his coat before following Hyunjin to their little kitchen.

There he found Hyunjin standing in front of the stove and a big pot in front of him. Where he had even gotten that, Felix didn’t know because he was quite sure that it wasn’t _his_, so it was probably Hyunjin’s. To be honest, he didn’t understand why the other had a pot that was almost too big to fit on their stove when it was just the two of them. 

Another thing that fascinated him.

After spending lunch with Hyunjin, he had learned that the guy was a bit strange. Not in the wrong way per se, but there was just something off about him. Felix didn’t really know _how_ to put it into words but it was like Hyunjin wasn’t really in touch with the world? That was a bit drastic to say but the guy occasionally zoned out and sometimes said the most impulsive things.

Like the fact that he had been involved in an accident when he was younger and had woken up without remembering anything or anyone. Parents included.

Which was really sad and Felix had expressed so to the guy but Hyunjin hadn’t seem all that upset about it. After all, it had been a couple of years ago and he said that he had grown to accept it pretty quickly.

Felix felt immense respect for that because he was sure he would freak out if he woke up one morning in a hospital without being able to recall how he got there or who the people crying next to his bed were.

Another thing that Felix had learned was that Hyunjin used to study to become a vet but that he suddenly didn’t feel like doing that anymore and thus changed major, ending up with Felix.

‘’To be honest, I had expected you to forget about me making dinner,’’ Hyunjin remarked, stirring whatever he was making like a madman, ‘’If you’re as obsessed with books as you claim to be,’’

Felix snorted and shook his head, ‘’How could I forget dinner? You so explicitly threatened me to get back on time,’’

Hyunjin chuckled and shrugged before concentrating on the pot again.

The silence wasn’t awkward, which was quite surprising because Felix never really was someone who got along with others after only knowing them for a couple of hours. But there was just something so calming about the guy, like a certain vibe that made Felix less anxious about saying something stupid or strange.

No.

With Hyunjin he felt like he could _really_ be himself and the other seemed to appreciate that, if the encouraging smiles where anything to go by.

‘’So,’’ Felix started off as he moved to the fridge, scanning the contents before closing it again, ‘’What are you making?,’’

‘’I don’t know,’’

The freckled boy frowned, ‘’What do you mean, you don’t know?,’’

It was silent for a bit and Felix wondered if Hyunjin hadn’t heard him, but then he spun around and smiled, ‘’I just threw some stuff together. I mean, cooking can’t be that difficult right? On tv it looks really simple,’’

Felix was stunned.

‘’You _do_ know how to cook… right?,’’

There was another silence and Felix got his answer. 

‘’Why did you even offer to cook dinner then?,’’ he rushed out.

Hyunjin shrunk, finally letting go of the ladle to scratch the back of his neck, ‘’I just wanted to try…,’’

Felix let out a long sigh and Hyunjin shrunk even more, definitely not as enthusiastic as before and he felt a bit guilty for killing the boy’s fun.

‘’You know what, how about we just order something then and I’ll teach you how to cook this weekend?,’’ Felix offered, hoping it would be a good compromise.

Because even though he appreciated Hyunjin’s effort, he didn’t really feel like even trying the mush the guy was brewing.

Fortunately, Hyunjin perked up and nodded vehemently, his eyes almost gone as he smiled.

It was two hours later when Felix found himself completely stuffed on the couch, Hyunjin sitting on his left and the tv playing some kind of obscure Disney movie – treasure planet or something. Felix wasn’t all that interested in the movies that didn’t really have anything to do with the classic fairy tales but he had to admit that the movie was nice.

As they had gone through the options he had found out that Hyunjin still had to watch – or re-watch – about forty Disney movies. He had told Felix that going through all the old movies he had supposedly watched as a kid was one of the first thing he had done after waking up in the hospital, but he had just reached Disney and so, Felix was the designated movie-buddy until they had finished them all.

Which was honestly a lot of fun because it had been years since Felix had seen them. Not that he didn’t really have a choice – he had but he didn’t want to make Hyunjin sad by rejecting him – but that wasn’t the point.

As the end-credit began to roll, Felix remembered that today had been Hyunjin’s first day at this college.

‘’Hey,’’ he said as he turned to look at Hyunjin, ‘’How was your first day?,’’

Hyunjin paused the movie and slumped back into the couch, seemingly lost in though for a couple of seconds.

‘’It was nice. I don’t really know how I feel about the professors but learning stuff is fun,’’

Learning was fun indeed, but Felix rarely came across people with the same mindset so the fact that Hyunjin thought that as well was refreshing. No negative vibes about school being stupid or boring or stressful – which it was, but why did every have to talk about it all the time – and he knew that he couldn’t have gotten a better dorm-mate than Hyunjin.

‘’Yeah? What do you like the most?,’’ Felix asked, shifting so that he could pull one leg up to the couch.

Hyunjin swiftly turned around and Felix almost flew back at the sudden action.

‘’Folklore History and Cultural Influences is my favourite so far! Like, it is so fascinating how mere tales have effected societies views on things, their habits and the norms. How cool is that!,’’

And with Hyunjin mentioning Felix’s whole reason he had chosen to attend this University, Felix was sure that Hyunjin would be his best friend from now on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...  
Almost everyone is here now ^^  
Let me know who you think which fairy tale character everyone is :)


	5. Ní huasal ná íseal, ach thuas seal is thíos seal.

[**Scéal**, _?_]

‘’Can I see it now?,’’ the boy asked as he wiggled impatiently, making it difficult for the older to keep the boy’s eyes covered with his hands.

‘’Almost there,’’ he replied as he nudged the boy forward with his chest, smiling at his impatience. But then again, he knew that what he was doing was getting the boy worked up.

He told the younger to stop walking once they reached the middle of the garden and placed a little kiss on the back of his head before letting his hands slip from the younger’s eyes.

‘’Open your eyes,’’

Then he heard a little gasp and even though he was standing behind the boy and couldn’t see his face, he was sure that his eyes were sparkling.

‘’Hyung!,’’ the boy squealed, rushing to the little bush before getting on his knees, giggling loudly as he gently ran his fingers over the petals.

The older chuckled and couldn’t help but smile fondly and he slowly strolled to the boy, happy that the little surprise had seemed to work out. He knew how much he loved roses, especially yellow ones and so, he had tried his everything to get the gardeners to plant them even though he knew how rare the flowers were.

‘’Do you like them?,’’ he asked softly as he crouched next to him, reaching out to gently run his fingers through his hair.

The boy nodded and let out an approving hum before standing up again, pulling the older up with him.

‘’They are really pretty. Thank you,’’

The older melted when the boy pulled him in for a hug, exhaling softly as he buried his head in the older’s neck.

‘’Anything for you,’’ he replied as he placed a soft kiss on the boy’s temple, earning him a little giggle before the boy pulled away and gave him a little tap on the nose.

‘’Who would have guessed you could be such a softy?,’’ the younger giggled once again, running his finger’s through the older’s hair, ‘’I certainly didn’t when I first met you,’’

The older grimaced as he remembered meeting the boy in the private section of the library, accidently scaring the boy off when he had freaked out about someone snooping around his personal book collection. He hadn’t understood how the boy had managed to get in and he had all but growled at the boy to get out.

‘’Stop frowning,’’

He got pulled out of the memory and sent an apologetic smile before shifting his weight and cupping the younger’s cheeks, leaning in as he felt hands grabbing the front of his blouse.

But right before their lips touched, he felt gravity pull him down and everything went white and grainy. 

Then the image faded completely and he was floating again, back in the never ending black. Nothing there but a nauseating loneliness, making his bones ache even though he knew it wasn’t real. 

And he would be forever trapped like this. Trapped in a state of nothingness but plagued by snippets of a life he once had, of a life he hoped would return to him one day, no matter how impossible that was. He knew that it was impossible – not once had any of them returned – but the world worked in mysterious ways. Just when you thought you had it figured out, something happened and made you question everything you had been taught or had come to learn.

The ache spread to his fingers and toes and he let out a muted scream as his head seemed to get hammered in. Then everything was red and he knew that he had to endure it all patiently and wait for the cycle to repeat itself, over and over again.

That’s how it was going to be for forever, his mind stuck in another world until his actual body gave out and every time things went red he wished for that moment to come, but it never did and then he lived in the snippets again and wished to stay like that until the end of times. 

He was slowly killing himself like this, he knew that, but he had been rash and emotional and had not seen any other option but this one.

No, he would rather torture himself with those fond memories than to die of a lonely heart, to feel his insides getting shredded to pieces day after day.

So floating around in this state it was and as the red slowly faded away to black again, he felt the previous ache disappear and everything numbed.

And he was back to waiting until his unconscious mind would play another one of it’s far away memories with the boy he loved so dearly.

How bittersweet it was.

[**Seoul**, _December Seventeenth_]

‘’So, do you have anything planned for the holidays?,’’ Felix whispered, his eyes trained on the professor in the front of the class. Felix was bored and he knew that Hyunjin was too – the boy kept doodling cutlery and other kitchenware in his little notebook, bringing them to life by giving them eyes – and he noticed that the woman going off about the effect of World War Two on ancient art wasn’t really paying attention to the mass of students in front of her.

How they had gotten to the topic, Felix didn’t know but he deemed it safe to zone out because he was pretty sure that the woman had trailed off because none of his books really mentioned the subject so it probably wasn’t all that important for the class.

Hyunjin kept his head down to the paper but Felix knew he had heard the question when the boy shot a quick glance to the front through his bangs, then to Felix and back to the paper.

‘’My parents will be out of town that week, visiting my grandparents in Ireland,’’ Hyunjin replied, ‘’So I don’t really have any plans,’’

Felix turned his body once the woman fully turned around to face the screen and he leaned his head on his hand, ‘’Your grandparents live in Ireland?,’’

Hyunjin just nodded, ‘’Yeah. From what I have been told, they moved there when I was still just a toddler,’’

‘’And you don’t want to go with your parents?,’’

Hyunjin finally stilled and let out a little sigh, making Felix afraid that he had said something wrong or touched a sensitive subject. However, the boy turned his head and gave him a smile, ‘’I have seen them only once, well, I know I’ve seen them more than that but you know…,’’

Felix let his hand slip off the table and onto Hyunjin’s knee, giving the boy a sympathetic squeeze. The boy didn’t seem to need that all that much comforting but the younger assumed that it wasn’t as easy as Hyunjin made it out to be.

‘’It’s okay Felix, I’m really not that bothered by it,’’ he replied, patting Felix’s shoulder, ‘’My parents told me they aren’t really great people anyways and that they only visit because they feel obligated to so it’s not like I’m missing out,’’

The freckled boy frowned at that but decided to let it go for now and retreated his hand.

‘’So you are completely free, right?,’’ Felix asked as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

Hyunjin just hummed to confirm the fact and the freckled boy almost threw his phone in front of the boy, starling him in the process.

Hyunjin shot him a sceptic look and took the phone in his hands, his eyes scanning the screen before they widened, letting out a very muted squeal before turning his head back to Felix, ‘’Please tell me we are going? I’ve never heard of it but we gotta go!,’’

Felix snorted at Hyunjin’s response, especially when he had been a bit louder than would have been ideal and the woman had turned to them, sending Hyunjin a stern glare before continuing.

The younger took his phone back out of Hyunjin’s hands, scrolling down the page to look for the link for tickets. They were a bit expensive but he had wanted to go for years but it never worked out so the fact that he actually could go now made him forget about how pricy the tickets were.

Within a minute he was a whopping hundred-and-six dollars poorer – hello early entry and specialised goodie bag – and two tickets to the Grimm Convention richer.

He was well aware of how lame it sounded, he lowkey cringed at the name as well but that was just what it was. To be honest, he had been lowkey nervous about asking Hyunjin – the guy he just met a couple of days ago – if he wanted to go with him because even though he knew that the boy liked fairy tales and everything along those lines as well, he didn’t know how the older would feel about it.

But he was happy that he had shoved his phone to Hyunjin in a rare moment of bravery.

It was a few minutes later that the professor let them go, bellowing that the next lecture was absolutely mandatory before she dismissed them. 

Felix had managed to convince Hyunjin to come to the library with him and that’s how they found themselves sat in the corner, huddled together because the temperature had dropped even more overnight and for some reason, they didn’t find it all that necessary to upgrade the libraries’ central heating system. 

But Felix found himself oddly okay with the way things were now because Hyunjin turned out to be incredibly warm and even though Felix liked to think he wasn’t someone who really needed actual physical contact with people, he certainly did.

It felt nice, having someone next to him while he read. There was something comforting and reassuring about having someone exist in the same space as him, even though they weren’t talking. It felt nice to be so engrossed in his own book but knowing that he wasn’t alone. 

The way Hyunjin’s arm would brush his every time the boy turned the page served as a reminder of that and when that happened he wished he had met the boy a couple of years earlier, when he had just enrolled in high school here in South-Korea.

Somehow he had though he would manage to make new friends, but it had turned out to be really difficult.

The first problem had been that he barely spoke any Korean and the other students would laugh at him whenever he tried to, pointing out every flaw and telling him that he should just go back to Australia if he wasn’t going to be speaking proper Korean.

And when his Korean had drastically improved, people started laughing at his obsession with books and he hated it when they would call him a child, when his books would get ripped out of his hands and thrown out of the open windows in the classroom, when they would dump all the research for group projects on him because _‘’You like to read’’_, when they never asked him to join during lunch because they just assumed he didn’t want to interact with actual human beings.

The list went on and on and he slowly lost his focus on the letters on the page in front of him completely, already chastising himself for letting things that had happened in the past get to him.

‘’Felix?,’’ Hyunjin suddenly whispered, slowly dropping the book in his lap, ‘’Are you okay?,’’

Not really, but Felix couldn’t get it passed his lips when he dared to look Hyunjin in the eyes, only to be met with a look of concern and worry. So he just shrugged and hastily turned back to his book, his vision blurring a little bit.

He didn’t understand why he suddenly got so emotional and he felt so stupid for it. It dawned on him that maybe the lack of sleep was catching up to him, maybe it was the fact that already the best friend he’d ever had – which wasn’t difficult to achieve.

He angrily blinked and hoped it would get rid of that blurriness, but it didn’t and when he got pulled into a hug by Hyunjin, he felt the first tear slip.

‘’Hey hey, what’s wrong?,’’ the other asked, alarm evident in his voice and it only made things worse.

Felix didn’t know what was wrong, it was all in the past anyways, so he just shook his head and sniffed.

‘’Okay,’’ Hyunjin whispered and Felix was grateful that the older didn’t press because he didn’t want to end up sobbing in the very public library, even if they were hidden away in the back.

They sat there for a couple of minutes, Felix happily soaking up the older’s warmth. At some point Hyunjin had ended up humming a tune that vaguely reminded him of one of the Disney movies they had watched a couple of days ago and he felt the sudden sadness disappear between the notes.

‘’How about we go back and watch a movie?,’’ the older tried, leaning back and dipping his head down to look at Felix.

The freckled boy was sure that his eyes were a bit puffy and red, but Hyunjin didn’t comment on it and just squeezed his shoulder, giving him a little smile.

‘’Yeah,’’ Felix replied, a little relieved that his voice didn’t end up cracking or sounded hoarse.

He got pulled to his feet by the older and before he knew it, they were out of the library and on their way to their dorm. Felix was happy that Hyunjin had slung and arm around his shoulders because he was a bit sleepy and had trouble walking in a straight line. 

They reached the dorm after the short walk and Felix hadn’t even shut the door behind him or Hyunjin crouched down in front of him, carefully unlacing the younger’s boots.

Now, Felix really wasn’t a child and normally he wouldn’t have appreciated someone treating him like one, but it was Hyunjin and to be honest, Felix liked being taken care of for once. So he let the boy and didn’t protest as he got pulled into the room.

Hyunjin held his hand tightly and dragged the younger to his bed, nudging him to sit down before letting go and disappearing into the kitchen.

Felix let out a sigh and fell back on his bed. He was exhausted and his head hurt but in the midst of it all was a certain comfort. 

He wasn’t alone.

He had Hyunjin and that was more than enough.

So when the older returned, carefully balancing a big pile of snacks in his arms, he reached out and pulled Hyunjin to lay down next to him.

The boy let out a dramatic screech and everything fell to the floor but Felix couldn’t care less because Hyunjin seemed to sense the lingering sadness and pulled him into his arms once again.

‘’It’s okay. I’m here,’’

Hyunjin was here.

And that was enough.

[**Scéal**, _Morning_]

It hurt.

All of it.

His head, his legs, his back, his jaw.

And his wrists were burning like crazy and even though he knew he should stop wiggling his arms in an attempt to get out of the ropes, he continued and only irritated the skin more.

But he didn’t care that by now he could _feel_ the blood emitting from the skin on his wrists getting smudged everywhere, slow droplets trickling down his hands and gathering at his fingertips, or travelling down his arms whenever he held them up. Well, that’s what he thought was happening. He couldn’t actually see it when he had a piece of some sort of course fabric obstructing his view.

His head pounded and his cheek was throbbing and he was getting really worked up. 

He hadn’t seen – or heard was the better word - anyone after waking up in this situation and he didn’t know whether to be happy about that or not. He guessed he should be because it meant that he would live to see another minute but then again, his own rising anxiety was killing him and something or someone needed to cut it.

Be careful what you wish for, right?

‘’Sweetheart,’’ A voice to Jisung’s left suddenly chuckled, ‘’Stop trying,’’

Jisung froze and held his breath, his heart picking up its pace as another hit of adrenaline came rushing through his veins. He didn’t need to see to know that his skin was now littered with goose bumps and he shivered at the ominous sensation. He was so screwed. He was in so much trouble and he didn’t know how he was going to get out of here this time.

‘’And I know what you’re thinking but it’s not going to happen. Not again,’’ Chan hissed and Jisung could hear he had soundlessly moved somewhere to his left, making him jerk and turn his head on instinct.

Then it was completely quiet again but something brushed past his hair on the right and he shrunk to the left, trying to evade – what he assumed – was Chan, which seemed to work because he was gone again.

This continued for a while – dry chuckles going from ear to ear before the silence returned, random touches on his arm and the sensation gone almost as quickly as it came, the dragging of _something_ across the floor on the opposite side of the room – and Jisung knew that Chan was doing it on purpose to freak him out.

And it worked because Jisung’s neck was starting to protest every time he snapped his head around to follow a sound, his body tense and on high alert. 

He knew that Chan was probably just a couple of steps away from him at all times and the younger was defenceless like this, his hands painfully bound together and a chain running from the wall he was seated against to a shackle around his ankle. 

Then there was a sudden exhale, the air brushing his ear and Jisung couldn’t help but let out a surprised shriek, throwing himself back against the wall and unintentionally banging his head against the stones. He hissed at the dull ache spreading through his head and clenched his fists, digging his nails into the palm of his hand in an attempt to distract him.

‘’Oh no, did I scare you?,’’ Chan taunted and Jisung could hear the pathetic whimper escaping his lips as Chan hoovered next to his ear.

There came a harsh tug on the chain and Jisung got dragged to the floor by his ankle, his back scraping against the stones of the wall as his blouse rode up before he ended on his back on the floor. He wailed at the sudden pain and he could feel his temper flare up with it but did his best to keep it contained. Getting angry was not going to help him get out of this situation. But neither was getting scared. Nothing really would, but lashing out was going to diminish his chances of getting away and surviving Chan tremendously.

A hand gripped his neck and Jisung sucked in a shallow breath when the pressure slowly increased, a thumb pressing on his throat in a threatening manner. He could feel his face flush almost immediately as he struggled to get his lungs to expand and the heath slowly reached his eyes. The unpleasant feeling of his eyes starting to water terrified him, froze him into place and everything paused.

‘’So easy,’’ Chan leered as he moved on top of the boy, ‘’Always so easy,’’

Jisung was well aware that the older was straddling him now but his mind was getting a bit foggy, the lack of a proper breath making him fail to notice that he was trying to push the older off of him.

He was starting to panic.

The pressure in his head grew with the second and Chan’s other hand was in his hair and the sound of his laboured breathing was filling the air and it was all too much.

Jisung was getting to the point where he couldn’t tell if this was reality or if he was stuck in some nightmare – some of his nightmares were suspiciously alike to the situation he found himself in now – and he just prayed that he would wake up in a couple of seconds, sweat running down his back and Snow hissing at him for waking him up.

The pressure on his neck was suddenly gone and Jisung took a distressed breath, ending up coughing as soon as the cold air hit the back of his throat. However, in his panic it felt like the hand was still pressing down on his windpipe and he brought his trembling hands up to his neck, scratching his skin in an attempt to get rid of the feeling.

It stung and his neck was now wet with a sticky liquid and he didn’t know if it came from the scratches or the blood on his hands, but that didn’t matter. It didn’t matter where it came from because his hands were suddenly pulled away, an iron grip on his wrists and he let out a high-pitched cry when the ropes got pushed even further into his damaged skin.

‘’Do you have any idea how pathetic you look right now?,’’ the older laughed darkly, ‘’You get scared so easily, always did. It almost isn’t fun anymore,’’

Cold fingers ran over his neck again before they moved up his jaw and to his cheek, leaving a trail of blood and Jisung shivered, the taste of bile filling his mouth.

‘’You are such a mess,’’ Chan whispered, the older cupping his cheek and spreading the sticky liquid, ‘’In a very different way from last time but I think I prefer you like this,’’

The words sent him right back to that night things had gone south and he let out another pathetic whimper, the stream of tears worsening. 

A harsh laugh resonated through the room and it was too much. He felt like he was going to pass out, but the adrenaline coursing through his veins was preventing him from doing just that and he hated it.

Chan’s weight was pressing down on him and it made him feel even more trapped than before. He literally had nowhere to go. He was stuck here, anxiously waiting for Chan to do something even worse and Jisung was _alone_. 

The feeling overtook his previous panic and his chest ached for different reasons now.

He had to get back.

He needed to get back home. 

He had promised Snow he’d be home.

And with the thought of the raven-haired boy came the fear that maybe they’d found him too. Maybe Elon hadn’t gotten there on time, maybe Snow hadn’t understood the wolf and just waved it off, maybe someone had gotten in and taken Snow.

It was enough to make the adrenaline rise and he pushed the body on top of him in an attempt to free himself.

‘’S-stop! W-why are you so obsessed with me?!,’’ the younger yelled in distress, ‘’I had already promised I wouldn’t tell anyone and I never did!,’’

It was quiet for a bit and Jisung could feel Chan’s muscles tense.

A harsh slap landed on his cheek and his head snapped to the side at the impact.

‘’There’s my brave little Hannie again,’’ Chan whispered in Jisung’s ear, fingers clamping on the younger’s hair and before Jisung had time to react, the older shuffled backwards a bit and tugged at his hair harshly.

Jisung let out another cry as he got forced up, the older’s grip on his hair the only thing preventing him from falling back.

His hands found the fabric of Chan’s blouse and he gripped it when there was another painful tug. Drops of sweat had now started making their way down his neck and he was trembling.

He wished it would just stop.

Chan was terrifying and Jisung knew that he hadn’t even seen half of it and that was what terrified him so much. He didn’t want to go through whatever the older wanted to do to him. Jisung was convinced he wouldn’t be able to handle it and he’d rather go now than having to withstand Chan’s inanity. 

‘’You are lucky the council hasn’t given me permission yet,’’ Chan hissed out, ‘’Because it’s the only thing holding me back right now,’’

Jisung could feel the older’s breath on his neck and everything in him screamed at him to get away, but it was too late when he felt something wet and warm going from his jaw all the way up to his cheek. Then it was gone and he heard something like a groan from the older.

It clicked rather quickly and he gagged at the realisation that it had been Chan, licking up the blood from his skin.

He was insane.

Chan was insane.

He only realised he had stuttered it out it when the older laughed painfully hard, Jisung getting shoved on his back again.

‘’Thank you for the compliment baby,’’


	6. Is minic a bhris béal duine a shrón.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well,  
I'm just going to pretend it didn't take me almost a month to update.  
Long story short, I'm at InoruMarufuji's place for the first time and she wanted me to say hi to you guys so... Hi?

[**Scéal**, _Afternoon_]

‘’No is no, Christopher!,’’ The woman yelled, her face visibly heating up, ‘’Remember who make the decisions here!,’’ 

Chan didn’t care who called the shots. He didn’t care about their stupid plan. All he cared about was them getting rid of Jisung because the longer the boy was alive, the bigger the chance that someone would find out about his secret. 

Sure, the boy was terrified of him when he had seen him this morning, but that wouldn’t guarantee that Jisung wouldn’t spill. Whether on purpose or accidently. 

And that Chan had left Jisung half-conscious earlier - unable to use his voice – didn’t do much to help him feel assured because it was only a matter of time before things would come to light.

He looked up from his position on the floor, gritting his teeth as he was forced to stay on one knee until the woman told him otherwise. It was degrading and it filled him with rage every time he found himself staring up at the woman in the big chair.

‘’With all due respect, ‘’Chan hissed out, ‘’It would be best for everyone to get this done as quickly as possible,’’

The woman rose from the chair, alerting all the humans present in the room.

‘’I get the urgency on your part, but this is final! The boy escaped you once before but back then you were on your own. Now that you joined us, there is no need to fear,’’

Chan knew that it was true, but he still felt like they weren’t upholding their end of the bargain. When he had joined the humans, they had promised him that they would kill any Grimm he got to them and in return, he had to swear loyalty to their group and protect them from other Grimms. 

At first, he had hesitated but he had learned that the humans had quite a lot of fellow Grimms on their side – mostly those who were lower in ranks like Geppetto, Frau Holle, Prince Charming etc. – and he had been convinced.

And that’s how he somehow ended up leading the rogues in name of the humans, going around and around to collect Grimms to hand them over to said humans so they could end their existence. 

‘’We already did you a favour by changing our target last minute, so you should be grateful. Red Riding Hood wasn’t even on our list yet so I expect you to be at least a little more grateful,’’ A man next to the woman spat.

That was true but he had already ignored his pride when he had begged for the humans to let him go after the boy first. He was not going to cross that line again.

‘’I do not want to hear about this again,’’ The woman spoke, turning her back to Chan, ‘’You are free to leave,’’

Chan gritted his teeth again and tried to keep his temper down. Jisung needed to go soon in order for Chan to feel somewhat calm again. There were too many things at stake and he felt threatened.

And the worst part of all of this was, was that he and Jisung had been friends. Maybe a bit more than that but Chan hadn’t had the chance to fully figure that out.

Not after _that_ night happened.

It had been a usual night, him and Jisung enjoying their time in a hidden bar in the forest. They did that from time to time after they had met at the exact same bar. How it exactly had happened again, Chan didn’t remember but what he did remember was that the boy’s eyes sparkled in the candle light of the bar and they continued to do so every time they met up.

Maybe they had gotten a bit too drunk. 

Maybe Jisung was a bit too drunk to think properly. 

That happened most of the time but this time was different. One moment they had been laughing with a beer in their hand and the next, Chan had been hovering over the boy on his bed, lips stuck to the beautiful honey-coloured skin on Jisung’s collarbone. One thing had led to another and it was two hours later that they fell asleep, bare legs tangled and the younger’s head on Chan’s sweaty chest.

A loud thump had woken Chan up and he had shot up from the bed, the candle-light enabling him to see Jisung in the middle of the room, almost drowning in Chan’s blouse.

Chan figured that the boy had fallen to his knees on the floor and he saw tears streaming down Jisung’s face as his eyes frantically wandered over a piece of parchment in his hands.

Before he had the chance to ask what was wrong, Jisung had snapped his head up and hastily dropped the document before scurrying backwards on the floor until his back hit a wall.

Then a gun had been pointed at Chan’s head – he had missed where Jisung had pulled it out from – and he froze for a second.

Jisung had screamed and cried as Chan had approached him, yelling at the older to get out and it was when Chan’s eyes had landed on the document that he understood what was up.

The documents scattered on the floor had been Chan’s locating-maps, keeping track of every body part of every Grimm he had dismantled and buried, including those of the one he was impersonating.

Jisung had pieced it together and figured it all out on his own. 

He had tried to comfort the younger, hurrying to sit down on the floor in front of him and pulling the gun out of the boy’s hands with ease. He had tried to pull Jisung into his embrace because to be honest, he didn’t want to lose the younger, but he had only ended up with scared whimpers and scratch marks all over his face.

Something in Chan had snapped when the younger had shakily threatened to tell everyone if he didn’t get the hell out of his house in between his sobs and it had led to him pinning the boy to the floor, his hands wrapped around Jisung’s neck.

He snapped out of it and realised he had been digging his fingernails into the skin of his arms, leaving little crescent-shaped marks.

Fucking Jisung.

Red Riding Hood had to go and he wasn’t going to let anyone stop him.

[**Seoul**, _December Twentieth_]

‘’Are you sure it would be okay?,’’ Hyunjin asked as he rolled on his side to face Felix, ‘’I mean, I wouldn’t want to intrude or something,’’

Felix rolled his eyes for the millionth time today, ‘’Hyunjin, I already said it was okay, like, a dozen times,’’

The freckled boy had officially invited Hyunjin to come home with him for Christmas but the older kept on asking if it was really okay for him to come over. They had been having this same conversation for days now and Felix was just about ready to just drag the guy back with him whether he wanted to or not.

Of course he got Hyunjin’s reluctance – if it had been the other way around he’d have felt like was intruding as well – but he had asked his parents if it was okay and all, so there was nothing for Hyunjin to worry about.

Felix reminded him of that once again and the other finally shut up, letting out a sigh as he dangled his legs over the edge. 

He looked sceptical but nodded slowly, reaching out to take a hold of Felix’s hand, ‘’Okay. Thanks,’’

Felix smiled - happy that he’d finally managed to convince his new friend - and squeezed the older’s hand before letting go and heaving himself off his bed. His vision blurred for a moment but that was to be expected after they had spent the rest of the afternoon lazing on Hyunjin’s bed.

Felix had stuff to do and he had told the other as much once he got back from his classes, but Hyunjin loudly announced that they were going to celebrate the start of the weekend by decorating the room with whatever the guy had gotten his hands on.

So right now there were a couple of plants standing around that hadn’t been there before – Felix wondered for how long they were going to manage to keep them alive – and it had turned out that his dormmate was obsessed with those cliché quotes, several little wooden panels with said quotes hanging on the wall.

Felix wasn’t a fan, but he’d manage.

However, he _was_ a fan of the fairy lights that were draped over the bookcase.

Fitting.

‘’What are we going to do for dinner, by the way?,’’ Hyunjin suddenly asked as Felix walked over to the kitchen.

‘’Well,’’ he started, ‘’I was thinking that we could officially start your cooking lessons today,’’

Hyunjin jolted up and turned around, eyes big, ‘’Are you serious?,’’

‘’Yes,’’ Felix replied, rummaging through the fridge, ’’We don’t really have anything so we’d have to go to the store, but it’s right around the corner anyways,’’  
There came a loud cheer from behind him and Felix couldn’t help but smile at the guy’s enthusiasm.

‘’But if there’s so much a sign of the kitchen going up in flames we’re ordering take-out,’’ Felix said sternly.

The other nodded and shot up from the bed, stalking over to the door and slipping into his shoes before turning back to face Felix.

‘’Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!,’’ Hyunjin screeched as he slipped out the door, footsteps hurried and Felix scrambled after him.

It was ten minutes later that Felix found himself navigating the two of them through the store, basket already half-full with things they didn’t need. Well, Hyunjin apparently needed them so who was Felix to stop the boy from throwing packages of candy and chocolate bars into the little basket hanging off his arm.

They were almost the only ones in the store and Felix thought that was strange, but he ignored the lack of students moving about the store – or campus in general. 

Most people had two weeks off because of the holidays and were probably already on their way home if they didn’t have any business being around uni.

But still, something felt off about it.

The more Felix walked around and gathered ingredients, the more difficult it seemed to take a proper breath. And he knew it wasn’t just him because Hyunjin was glancing around wearily as well, telling Felix that the guy didn’t feel all that comfortable either.

It was when they got to the back of the store when they saw a hooded figure standing with his back turned towards them that his brain screamed danger.

But that was stupid, right?

He wasn’t a very suspicious person but the vibe was wrong and right when he felt a coldness spread through his limbs, Hyunjin let out a weird sound, something between a hum and a squeal.

Felix was about to ask the guy what was wrong but Hyunjin slumped to the floor, landing harshly on his knees before grabbing his head.

‘’Hyunjin?,’’

But there was no response and then the hooded figure turned around, a surprised look on his face as he looked at Hyunjin.

Felix ignored it for now and dropped on the floor next to the other, ‘’What is wrong?,’’

His voice came out alarmed and he felt the worry increase when he heard Hyunjin heaving for air, eyes blown wide but distant, like he was somewhere else.

‘’Hyunjin?,’’ Felix tried again, a bit more panicked this time, ‘’Talk to me,’’

‘’I-it hurts!,’’ the other hissed back.

Then Felix saw the figure move away from the corner and taking a step towards them and Hyunjin let out a wail.

It made the figure stop moving and as Felix looked up at him, he swore he could see the figure tearing up and his muscles tense.

Did this guy know Hyunjin?

His reaction seemed like it.

And Felix brightened at the idea that it was someone Hyunjin knew before the accident, someone who was important enough to get sad seeing Hyunjin in pain.

‘’Make it stop!,’’ Hyunjin suddenly yelled and Felix flinched at the volume.

But how was Felix supposed to make it stop?

‘’I can’t. I’m so sorry,’’ the figure suddenly whispered out, his expression morphing into regret and melancholy. A weird and unexpected combo, if you asked Felix.

‘’What is going on here?,’’ 

An employee suddenly came from around the corner and Felix turned to look at the woman, his brain trying to come up with a logical explanation for his friend’s behaviour.

Hyunjin was now full on crying and Felix knew he had to get the boy out of here.

He threw one glance back to the figure, only to see that he was no longer there.

And where he had gone, Felix couldn’t understand because Hyunjin and he were blocking the way out of the aisle, which meant that the figure would have had no other option than to try to find a way around them.

So he had just disappeared into thin air.

And that was not possible.

[**Scéal**, _Morning_]

‘’Hurry up, we don’t have all day!,’’

Jeongin flinched at the loud bark right next to his ear but managed to keep a hold on the basket of laundry in his hands, heavily loaded with dirty bedding and bloodied clothing.

He hated doing laundry. It was most definitely the worst thing they made him do.

The blood stains were always nauseating and spiked fear, scared of ending up like the Grimms whose traces of their last moments he had to wash off every morning.

The man slapped the back of his head - muttering something Jeongin couldn’t understand – before stalking out of the cabin and leaving him on his own again.

As he walked over to the basin, he wondered how long this would keep on going. How long were they going to be stuck here, getting ordered and tossed around like they were nothing, the rogues ready to dispose of them whenever they felt like it.

Woojin had been dragged out in the early morning and Jeongin knew what the group was doing, something his older brother was forced to participate in.

At first Jeongin didn’t understand why Woojin would go along so willingly but he had come to the conclusion that they were probably blackmailing him pretty soon. And with what? Jeongin was smart enough to know that the first thing they’d do if Woojin even so much as showed any kind of disobedience.

Kill Jeongin.

He was absolutely sure of that.

Because he had heard Woojin plead for his little brother’s safety during sleep and Jeongin would have to wake the older up to get him out of whatever nightmare he was having.

He let out a heavy sigh as he tilted the basket and let the contents drop into the basin.

Day in day out they’d make him do whatever chore there was and even though it kept him occupied, there was always this lingering fear that Woojin wouldn’t get back by the end of the day.

He watched as the fabrics soaked up the water, dreading having to put his hands in there.

The water was already turning a weird brown with streaks of pink and Jeongin shivered at the sight. It was gross and the pink turned more red as he watched on.

But he had to stop being such a coward and get his hands in if he didn’t want to end up getting locked up or beaten to a pulp.

So with another heavy sigh, he closed his eyes and bended over the edge of the basin and pushed his hands in. His brain screamed at him to retreat his hands and he pushed through it, grabbing the first thing his hands could find.

It was about an hour later when everything was finally clean and hung to dry. The water was now a horrible mix of mud and old blood and if Jeongin didn’t know any better, he’d think there was a body somewhere in there as well.

But now that that was finished, he’d have to move on to cleaning and that was even more horrible.

Jeongin had been the target since day one and he could never really do his tasks without having to look over his shoulder every now and then, checking for any incoming rogues set out to plague him with disgusting remarks or heavy punches to the ribs.

Today proved to be one of those days.

He had been dusting off the desk in one of the rogue’s tent when a hand suddenly landed on his shoulder and he got turned around, coming face to face with one of the biggest assholes Jeongin had ever known.

‘’There you are, ‘’ The man hissed, his fingers digging into Jeongin’s shoulder, ‘’We were looking for you everywhere,’’

Jeongin had the supress the urge to either wither away or scratch the guys eyes out. If there was one person Jeongin hated with a passion, it was the man standing in front of him.

He didn’t know his name, but people called him Scar, obviously originating from the aftermath of a laceration across the face.

Now, the man was always out for trouble and more often than not, Jeongin would be better off evading the man as much as possible.

Woojin didn’t know.

He didn’t need to know.

Jeongin could handle it just fine.

‘’Let’s go little fox,’’

And with that, the man pried the broom out of his hands and let it clatter to the floor before taking a hold of his collar.

Jeongin hated that nickname.

Because Woojin used to call him that in the most endearing way, but the rogues had adopted it and made it sound mocking and foul. Not at all warm and gentle like Woojin did.

It was a couple of minutes later that Jeongin stood with his back against a tree, an apple on top of his head and a handful of mean in front of him.

Jeongin hated how he didn’t know what was coming. He hated that they’d always come up with new creative ways to humiliate him.

Scar laughed and twirled his knife before pointing it straight at Jeongin, ‘’I’d advise you to keep still. Wouldn’t want to end up damaging you, now would we?,’’

The group burst out laughing and Jeongin shrunk at the sound, knowing full well that it was best to keep silent and just hope that today wouldn’t be the day Woojin would have to bury him.

So he just stood there and screwed his eyes shut, blocking out the sight of those monsters in front of him.

‘’How many times do I have to tell you to keep your eyes open?!,’’ the man bellowed, ‘’You dumb mutt,’’ 

And then something flew by his head, landing into the tree behind him with a dull thump.

Jeongin hissed softly and willed his eyes open, looking at Scar’s narrowed eyes.

‘’Boys,’’ the man bellowed, ‘’Time for target-practise,’’

**Author's Note:**

> At this point I advise people to just bookmark my stuff and read when it's done. I need to calm the f down with uploading and just finish stuff first.
> 
> But I'm having fun so that probably aint going to happen.


End file.
